Government Data Sharing Community of Practice

Federal government agencies face challenges in sharing information, using data analytics, and leveraging resources that could assist them in their missions. This community brings together officials from all levels of government to overcome these challenges.

In January 2013, GAO co-hosted a forum alongside the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) and the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board to explore using data analyticswhich involve a variety of techniques to analyze and interpret datato help identify fraud, waste, and abuse in government. Forum participants included representatives from federal, state, and local government agencies as well as the private sector. A summary of the key themes from the forum is published here.

Through facilitated discussion, forum participants identified a variety of challenges that hinder their abilities to share and use data. For example, throughout the forum, participants cited the need for greater coordination and incentives for federal, state, and local government agencies to share information among themselves and with each other. To address these and other issues related to coordination and data sharing, GAO formed the Government Data Sharing Community of Practice.

In spring 2015, as part of GAO’s ongoing Government Data Sharing Community of Practice, GAO will collaborate with the Data Transparency Coalition to host a discussion on the cultural changes required for a successful transformation to open data across the government.

Open data is the official policy of the U.S. government. A 2013 executive order required federal agencies to publish their information as standardized, searchable data, and the 2014 Digital Accountability and Transparency Act (DATA Act) mandated similar standards for the federal government's spending information. Even with these changes, the transformation to open data is not an easy one. Where it has been successfully achieved, the transformation required cultural change, specifically a shift from documents-based to data-centric thinking.

The next Government Data Sharing Community of Practice will focus on cultural change success stories from across the government, as well as areas where change has not happened yet, but might soon.

CPEs for this event are available for government employees for whom this information is relevant to their work.

Registration will be free and open to the public:Information on how to register is forthcoming.

Meeting agenda: Will post when finalized.

The Government Data Sharing Community of Practice features a series of discussions on challenges and opportunities related to sharing data in government. The timeline below provides more information on upcoming events and notes from previous events.

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